Team IDG

We Share Your Passion!

Not only has IDG been involved in Motorsports for several years, many of our staff have actually raced themselves. This gives IDG Racing a unique perspective and understanding that our competitors simply do not share. Simply put… We Share Your Passion!

IDG Racing is proud to partner with the best in motorsports. Our focus is drag racing, but we have supported other forms of motorsport, ranging from Asphalt Modified all the way to NASCAR Sprint Cup. Our long history of supporting motorsports has given IDG Racing numerous race wins, and multiple World Championships. We are proud of our relationships with top drivers and look forward to continuing our winning tradition for many years to come.

Rickie Smith

Always a crowd favorite, Rickie Smith has achieved much success in his racing career becoming the most decorated driver in both the NHRA Pro Mod and IHRA Pro Stock Categories. Competition has always been in Rickie’s DNA as he turned down multiple football scholarship offers to pursue a career in drag racing. He earned the nickname “Tricky Rickie” due to his tactics at the starting line to get other drivers out of their game. There have been many impressive “firsts” in Rickie’s 39 year racing career. Most recently, winning the 2013 and 2014 NHRA Pro Mod Championships has made Rickie the first back-to back champion in this NHRA category. In 2015, Rickie Smith will once again be sponsored by Industrial Distribution Group (IDG) in pursuing the NHRA Pro Mod series championship. Follow Rickie’s pursuit of the championship right here on the IDG website under IDG Racing.

2014 – Won the NHRA Pro Mod Series Championship a second consecutive year; the first NHRA Pro Mod driver to win back-to-back championships in this category.

2015 – Won the PDRL Pro Nitrous Series Championship and finished 4th in the NHRA Pro Mod Series.

Shane Gray

IDG was proud to bring on Shane Gray as its newest driver by partenering with the Gray Motorsports Pro Stock team at the sixth annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in March, 2015. Shane drove a Chevrolet Camaro with a special wrap, featuring an eye-catching design spotlighting the IDG brand as the title sponsor. “This was a real neat deal for us, and the Gray Motorsports team is grateful to IDG for coming on board for our hometown race,” said Gray.

Shane Gray finished third in NHRA’s Division 4 Competition Eliminator standings in 2009, and the following year he dove headfirst into the life of a professional full-time racecar driver when he ventured into NHRA Pro Stock competition. In his debut season, Gray qualified for all 23 events on the tour and ended the year with a win at the Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona.

Gray’s remarkable first year as a professional drag racer was even more notable as the power was generated in-house, and the engines beneath the hood of his sleek Jerry Haas-built Chevy Camaro are still brought to life and finessed in the Gray Motorsports state-of-the-art, 24,000 square foot facility in Denver, N.C. Gray, now in his sisth season as a Pro Stock competitor, has accumulated three national event wins in seven final rounds; in addition to the victory at the final race of the year in 2010, he was also victorious in Topeka, Kansas in 2011 and won the Las Vegas Nationals in the fall of 2013. His biggest win to date was in 2014, scoring a trophy at the prestigious 60th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Steve Torrence

At the age of 15, Steve Torrence was driving a 160 mph racecar before most of his friends could even drive down a city street. A strong desire to follow in his father’s footsteps motivated Steve to do well in drag racing, a sport that would play a key role in the rest of his life.

Steve’s first year of racing went well, as he finished 7th in regional competition. Steve’s natural talent behind the wheel didn’t go unnoticed, as he was named the 1999 South Central Division Rookie-of-the-Year. A bright and promising future in racing had to be put on hold in 2000, after Steve was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a form of cancer most commonly found in males age 17-25). After months in the hospital, receiving both chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Steve was able to overcome the disease. Steve considers it “The greatest victory I have ever won.”

Steve returned to drag racing the following year, and raced in the amateur division until moving up to the semi-professional category in 2005. Success would once again come quickly for Steve, winning a staggering nine times in only 13 races. The stellar season earned Steve his first world championship, becoming the youngest Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion in class history. He was also named the South Central Division Driver of the Year.

At the age of 22, and with a world title under his belt, it was time for Steve to move into the professional ranks. In 2006 Steve got his chance, driving Dexter Tuttle’s Top Fuel dragster (arguably the most prestigious category in drag racing). Torrence and Tuttle enjoyed increasing success year after year, with 2010 marking the highpoint as Steve earned his first professional top-10 finish (placing 8th in the final points standings).

In 2011, Steve made the difficult decision to leave Tuttle Motorsports in order to pursue a lifelong goal of starting a family-owned Top Fuel team. Torrence Racing is the realization of that dream.

IDG Racing is a business segment of Hagemeyer North America/Industrial Distribution Group (HNA/IDG), a top 10 global industrial distributor of maintenance, repair, operations and production supplies, and a market leader in the design and management of Integrated Solutions. HNA/IDG has over 50 years of experience in the distribution of assembly tools, hand tools, equipment, metalworking fluids, maintenance products, safety supplies, industrial products, electrical products and materials, and more. Located in Belmont, NC, IDG Racing provides products, services and solutions specifically for the motorsports industry.